Mufaro Kanyangarara‘07
Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe

Mufaro Kanyangarara is an Applied Statistics major who had a summer internship at the Center for the Study of AIDS, Pretoria, South Africa

Through this internship I have come to understand how South Africa's political history has impacted the spread of HIV/AIDS. This internship solidified my interest in HIV/AIDS research.

When: Summer between junior and senior year.

Why an international  internship : As a student with an interest in designing and implementing effective HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs, the internship with CSA was an excellent fit. South Africa is experiencing one of the most severe HIV epidemics in the world. The response to HIV/AIDS has been particularly slow because of the current government's refusal to acknowledge that HIV is the cause of AIDS. This has posed a challenge for organizations such as the CSA. During my internship I found that many of the youth people were very knowledgeable about the basic facts of HIV/AIDS, but the views of politicians in the media had added to the climate of misinformation about HIV/AIDS in South Africa. 

What language did you speak: English. Some of the workshops were in Xhosa, or Zulu, which I don't know.

What did you do:  I attended workshops on stigma, HIV/AIDS and human rights for marginalized youths in townships in Pretoria. I also prepared training materials for workshops, monitored and then evaluated facilitators and workshops.

What next: After graduation, I will be pursuing a PhD in Biostatistics at Harvard with a concentration in the Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases. After completing my studies I plan to return to Zimbabwe and work in the public health sector.